After completing a successful U.S. Women's Open at Saucon Valley Country Club, Mimi Griffin said she would consider discussing the LPGA Tour's commissioner position if approached. "I would absolutely talk to anybody," Griffin, executive director of the Women's Open, said Monday. "I don't know what the situation is in depth, but it would be interesting to find out. I would definitely entertain discussion." On Monday, LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens resigned, and the tour's board named Marsha Evans as its acting commissioner.

DAYTONA BEACH, Florida — Florida teen Jessica Korda shot a 6-under 66 on Friday to move within a stroke of leader Libby Smith after the third round of the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament. Smith had a 73 on LPGA International's Champions Course to finish at 7-under 209. Sarah Brown, of Phillipsburg, who shot a 2-under 70 on Thursday, matched her first-round 73 Friday to end Round 3 at even par. She is currently in 17th place and the top 20 players in the five-round event will earn full 2011 exemptions.

Twenty-two players from the Ladies Professional Golf Association tour will strike a blow for charity tomorrow when the fourth annual Debbie Massey-Burn Foundation Pro-Am Golf Tournament is played at the Silver Creek Country Club. The players come to the Lehigh Valley after completing the weekend of play in Atlantic City, N.J. A shotgun start is scheduled for 10 a.m. tomorrow, with a five-man scramble format being used. Massey and a number of other players will take part in a clinic that will begin an hour earlier.

PITTSFORD, N.Y. (AP) — Cristie Kerr spent all week discussing her dream to become the first American to be ranked No. 1 in the world. She can stop dreaming. After producing one of the most dominating performances to win the LPGA Championship — or any other major for that matter — Kerr is projected by the LPGA to secure the top spot once the rankings are released Monday. "It feels awesome. There are no other words," Kerr said Sunday after claiming her second major title by blowing away the field by a whopping 12 strokes at Locust Hill Country Club.

Who says Neanderthal man last walked the Earth 30,000 years ago? When I was a kid, being weaned on '50s doo-wop, it seemed the only women allowed to have any control were Aunt Jemima with the pancakes and Betty Crocker with the rest of the menu. Since then, I can happily report women have proven capable enough to rule the land as governors, U.S. Senators and Supreme Court Justices. Women are captains of industry and pioneers in medical research. Why, then, is there such alarm over the possibility of Annika Sorenstam competing in a PGA Tour event?

Inbee Park was trying to sleep, but her parents' screaming from the living room awoke her. She was 9 years old and didn't really understand why they were yelling at the television at 3 a.m. Even so, Park joined the family to watch history in the middle of the night. Se Ri Pak was about to become the first South Korean golfer to win the U.S. Women's Open, and everyone in the living room was fit to burst. "They were so loud," Park said. "Then I started watching, and I saw how she was fighting to win. It looked really good to me. A couple days later, I decided I should play and make people a lot more happy."

The third annual Debbie Massey/Burn Foundation Pro-Am will be played tomorrow at the Silver Creek Country Club. A shotgun start is scheduled for 10 a.m., however, two other events are scheduled before the field tees off. Beginning at 8 a.m., the first Scholastic Challenge, a long-drive contest featuring high school boys and girls, will be held. At 9 a.m., a clinic, featuring Massey and some of her LPGA Tour friends, will take place. Massey, who used to live in Bethlehem and played at the Saucon Valley Country Club, will have 22 of her tour colleagues in for the event, which benefits the Lehigh Valley Burn Center.

Cristie Kerr knew it was coming, so she halted potential inquiries with a pre-emptive statement. "Out of respect for the USGA, I'm asking that questions at this time be reserved for the U.S. Open or questions about myself and my golf and perhaps my wine-making," the 2007 U.S. Women's Open champion said. "I cannot comment on matters pertaining to the LPGA operations, as I do not have an official capacity to do that." The LPGA's real-world drama intruded upon Saucon Valley Country Club on Tuesday following reports that leading tour players, Kerr among them, have asked their commissioner, Carolyn Bivens, to resign.

The competition is encamped south of here on familiar turf at the DuPont Country Club in Wilmington, Del., getting ready for the 22nd annual McDonald's LPGA Championship. Annika Sorenstam and the media horde following her will arrive in the next day or so, with Sorenstam's growing legion of fans undoubtedly not far behind. That should be enough to send a stay-away message to a rival professional golf tour. Yet here, just a 30-minute car ride away in suburban Philadelphia at the Aronimink Golf Club, the PGA is poised to stage one of its Champions Tour's four major championships, the 64th Senior PGA Championship.

Betsy King found herself looking at things like bleachers, leader boards and concession stands as she took a 5-1/2-hour walk around the golf course at the Berkleigh Country Club yesterday. If she had been on a course in Old Hickory, Tenn., or Agawam, Mass., those kinds of things would have been farthest from her mind; but this is not just another week on the LPGA Tour for the 41-year-old Reading native. No, this week, the tournament has her name on it, and it's being played virtually in her back yard.

The LPGA's Match Play Championship is returning to Hamilton Farm Golf Club. Octagon and Sybase Inc. have announced that Sybase will sponsor the 64-player tournament from May 20-23. A field of 64 players will be invited to compete in the $1.5-million event. The winner will earn $375,000, which is tied for the third largest payout on the LPGA Tour in 2010. "Sybase is excited to extend our partnership with the LPGA by sponsoring the Sybase Match Play Championship," Sybase chief executive John Chen said.

The most important moment of Sarah Brown's young golf career didn't require a signature, nor was it followed by a ceremony. Yet her life changed with a simple registration. The 17-year-old Phillipsburg resident became a professional golfer this week, when she arrived in Daytona Beach, Fla., for the final stage of the LPGA Qualifying Tournament. Brown registered for the tournament as a professional, meaning she'll be eligible for prize money for the first time in her career. It also means she plays golf for a living now. "I was thinking about it earlier," Brown said from Florida.

The inaugural Betsy King Celebrity Invitational has been rescheduled for June 21, 2010, to allow sponsors more time to budget for the event, the event organizers said Wednesday. The golf outing at Berkleigh Golf Club near Kutztown was set to start Aug. 28. "Our sponsors are very excited about this event, but have been facing business challenges this year," King, a Reading native, said in a statement. "We rescheduled the invitational recognizing the difficult business environment and expecting they will experience an improvement in their businesses by the spring of 2010.

After completing a successful U.S. Women's Open at Saucon Valley Country Club, Mimi Griffin said she would consider discussing the LPGA Tour's commissioner position if approached. "I would absolutely talk to anybody," Griffin, executive director of the Women's Open, said Monday. "I don't know what the situation is in depth, but it would be interesting to find out. I would definitely entertain discussion." On Monday, LPGA commissioner Carolyn Bivens resigned, and the tour's board named Marsha Evans as its acting commissioner.

Here's your chance to see Natalie Gulbis after all. Gulbis, one of golf's most photogenic players, failed to qualify for this year's U.S. Women's Open at Saucon Valley Country Club. But Gulbis, 26, will appear at Saucon Valley from 2 to 3 p.m. Sunday at the Lexus exhibit tent just inside the main entrance to the championship. Gulbis, who had a reality show on The Golf Channel, is one of the most popular figures in women's golf. The native Californian models for an annual calendar and was a finalist on NBC's "Celebrity Apprentice" show.

Making a living on the LPGA Tour wasn't easy in 1957. Stories are told of players who would arrange poker games with the locals from the cities in which tournaments were held. Often, winnings at the card table covered expenses from one week to the next. No wonder JoAnne Gunderson, the 18-year-old 1957 U.S. Women's Amateur champion, received a less-than-enthusiastic reception when she teed it up in a professional event near her Kirkland, Wash., home. The psychological warfare perpetrated by "a pretty tough bunch" got so bad that Gunderson didn't even go to the practice range before the final round.

Having faith in yourself, knowing how to deal with pressure and being in the "zone" helped Italy's Giulia Sergas post the lowest round of the tournament with a 4-under 67. She's tied for fourth with first-round leader Na Yeon Choi at even par. It was only the sixth time this season Sergas has broken 70. "It was definitely one of those moments that the athlete experiences, called the zone," Sergas said. "So I experienced it today and it was a great experience." Sergas will try to stay in the zone when she tees off at 1:10 p.m. today with Korea's Eun Hee Ji, who is at 1-over par. This is not unchartered territory for the 29-year-old in the Women's Open.

By Paul Reinhard SPECIAL TO THE MORNING CALL - Freelance | July 10, 2009

Laura Davies remembers when she thought this LPGA Hall of Fame business was a piece of cake. Before the candles were lit on her 33rd birthday cake in October 1996, she had racked up four major championships, finished second three times and tied for third another time. To qualify for the Hall of Fame, England's queen of golf would have to win two more regular events on the LPGA tour or one more major title. "It seemed so easy," Davies admitted Thursday, "but it hasn't been so easy since."